Central Ohio's poorest residents could live 5½ years longer if the region significantly boosts its housing stock, according to a new study that seeks to measure the peripheral damage of high housing costs.
The study, released Tuesday by the Affordable Housing Alliance of Central Ohio, concludes that 83,000 central Ohio households spend more than half their income on housing, well above the 30% threshold of what is considered affordable.
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A new report shows that if Central Ohio were able to close its housing gap, 40,000 jobs would be added annually, 600 additional children would graduate high school and the region would add 25,000 people to its middle class.
The Affordable Housing Alliance of Central Ohio Tuesday released research showing that about 80,000 Central Ohio residents are paying more than half their income for housing. If the 15-county region does nothing, 20,000 people will be added to that figure by 2040.
"We have two very clear paths," said Carlie Boos, executive director of AHACO. "We can do nothing, or we can act."
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CONVERGENCE Columbus has launched a new initiative, Bloom614, a consumer site and effort aimed to support the homebuying journey for Black and minority residents.
CONVERGENCE is a city-based pilot program to promote and increase minority homeownership. It is currently live in Philadelphia, Memphis, Tenn., and Columbus, Ohio.
Bloom614 (with the 614 a reference to the area code for Columbus), interactively engages Black and minority residents with industry experts, tools to find mortgage products and other resources.
“Many Black and minority communities perceive homeownership as intangible due to limited generational knowledge about the homebuying process and general distrust in financial institutions based off a history of discrimination and abuse,” said Anna Teye-Kasongo, Director of Community Partnerships for the Affordable Housing Alliance of Central Ohio. “CONVERGENCE recognizes the gaps in information, trust, resources and market strategies that impede the success of our communities along the homebuying journey.”
“Bloom614 bridges those gaps by demystifying the homebuying journey, celebrating consumer progress every step of the way, and providing wraparound support from industry professionals who share in CONVERGENCE’s commitment to eradicate the racial wealth gap. Additionally, Bloom614 takes transparency a step further by educating the community on the history of racial housing discrimination while beckoning residents to see homeownership as an opportunity to rewrite history and inspiring stakeholders to join the cause,” Teye-Kasongo continued.
The site, among other features, allows visitors to take a “readiness” quiz to determine if they’re set to buy a home, matches consumers with local and national down payments assistance products through the Downpayment Resource Matching Tool, and provides features for after individuals buy, such as information about refinancing, estate planning and foreclosure prevention.
Phase II of the site is also already underway, and will include an interactive journey map, housing glossary and more connections to local practitioners. A launch of the new version may be as soon as November.
The new initiative also has a presence on social media—specifically Facebook and Instagram.
CONVERGENCE Columbus is housed at the Affordable Housing Alliance of Central Ohio and was originally launched by the Mortgage Bankers Association, the Ohio Housing Finance Agency and the John Glenn College of Public Affairs at The Ohio State University. The program is also supported by Huntington National Bank, Fifth-Third Bank and JP Morgan Chase.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WSYX) — Changing lives and futures, one student at a time. The city of Columbus is pouring funding into an effort aimed at providing stable housing for hundreds who need it.
The 'Success Bridge' program was launched at Columbus State Community College in an effort to help struggling youngsters.
The focus of the program is to give hundreds of students the support and ability to graduate school. The key point in all of this is housing, giving students a stable environment to help push their lives forward.
From Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther to city council president Shannon Hardin, the effort is vital to ensure local students have the aid necessary to complete college. A major part of that effort is secure housing.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – The City of Columbus is investing millions of dollars toward combating the city’s looming housing crisis.
Houses are getting more expensive, and, at the same time, central Ohio is growing exponentially, with some reports showing Columbus’ population doubling by 2050.
John Glenn International Airport could have a new terminal by the end of the decade
According to Realtor.com, the median listing home price in Columbus was $289,000 as of July, a year-over-year increase of 11.2%.
“Central Ohio doesn’t need to wait to see the overcrowding and to see that unsheltered homelessness before we move,” Carlie Boos, the executive director of the Affordable Housing Alliance Central Ohio, said. “We don’t need to wait until the housing market is so broken that it takes half a million dollars to buy your first home.”
When TaVonna Wilson decided to enroll at Columbus State Community College in 2020, almost two decades after graduating from high school, her housing situation was top of mind.
"How do I go to school, work full time and find safe, affordable housing for my girls?" Wilson asked herself.
Wilson was able to get help through the Success Bridge Housing Stabilization program, which supports Columbus State students who face housing insecurity or homelessness. In February 2021, Wilson and her daughters moved into a three-bedroom apartment through the program, removing a burden that stops many college students from completing their degrees.
Two new housing tax credit programs are launching as Ohio grapples with affordable housing.
The state housing tax credit program and the single-family housing tax credit program are part of Ohio’s two-year, $191 billion budget that Gov. Mike DeWine signed earlier this month.
“Governor DeWine recognizes the need to have a holistic statewide housing strategy that addresses affordable housing and housing for our growing workforce,” DeWine spokesperson Dan Tierney said in email.
There is a shortage of about 270,000 affordable and available rental units to the 448,000 extremely low-income households in Ohio — meaning there are only 40 affordable units for every 100 households, according to a March report from Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio (COHHIO) and the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC).
“We know there is a need for housing and both of them will help create more housing for Ohioans,” said Ohio Housing Finance Authority’s Spokesperson Penny Martin.
Full-time workers need to make at least $19.09 an hour to afford a 2-bedroom apartment in Ohio — a $2.04 increase from last year, according to a joint report from the NLIHC and COHHIO.
By Robert “Bo” Chilton and Stephen Torsell
Columbus has seen boom times recently – at least for some. Population in Columbus has exploded in the last two decades – and it’s not expected to stop anytime soon. Given the enormous investments by Intel and other major companies, the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission expects about 726,000 new residents in the region by 2050.
But that has not spelled good times for all. The influx of people has not been met with an equal influx of new housing options, particularly for people of limited means. This crunch has meant many working people have to stretch to be able to find a place to live. According to the Affordable Housing Alliance of Central Ohio, over 50,000 households in Franklin County are paying more than half of their income in housing costs.
Our agencies saw the impact of this tenuous situation as we managed emergency rental assistance programs during the pandemic. Tens of thousands of our neighbors sought eviction relief and, even today, 6,000 residents per month continue to visit the Rentful614 eviction prevention hub for help saving their home. If those were a physical queue of people, instead of online visitors, the line for help would stretch from the courthouse doors to old Cooper Stadium on the Hilltop and it would take an hour just to walk to the end of it.
But we do more than just manage crises. Community development corporations and community action agencies work deeply in neighborhoods to improve people’s lives. Our organizations build and manage affordable housing, provide financial education, and provide rental and utility relief for families in hard times. We seek to change the underlying conditions that make housing so unstable for too many people in our region.
But our efforts have received too little support in the statehouse. The Senate’s original budget contained many provisions that would have done real harm to our efforts. Thankfully, the Senate’s omnibus bill reinstated a much-needed investment in new affordable housing that was supported by both the Governor and the state House. The Senate’s amended budget also removed a problematic proposal that would have limited property tax relief for new and rehabbed duplexes. But these positive changes are significantly blunted by an extremely harmful provision that remains.
The Senate’s bill abolishes the Ohio Housing Finance Agency (OHFA), the state’s independent, professionally-managed housing finance authority, and replaces it with an office within the Department of Development. Every state has a housing finance agency, which allocates federal tax credits to affordable housing developments in their state. Investors from around the country purchase these tax credits, and the proceeds are invested into the housing development. Tax credits fetch different prices in different states, depending on market conditions, and – importantly – the predictability of how the housing finance agency will distribute the credits.
OHFA has been recognized nationally as a high-performing housing finance authority, in part because its independent structure creates predictability for housing developers and investors. This has helped create solid demand for tax credits in Ohio, which attracts much-needed private investment into affordable housing development.
The Senate proposal would remove a number of the tools that make OHFA effective and predictable, and would open the agency to new political headwinds that it is largely shielded from today. The cost of uncertainty in this case is not just added bureaucratic headaches – it could lead tax credit investors to invest in other states with more certain returns. This would cost Ohio real dollars – dollars we cannot afford to lose.
As Central Ohio prepares for another wave of new arrivals, we must be moving full steam ahead to build housing that is affordable to people of all incomes. Local community development organizations and affordable housing developers are already facing many headwinds to meet the challenge before us. We need the state as a partner in addressing these challenges – and for that, we need a strong, independent Ohio Housing Finance Agency. We are asking Ohio legislators and the Governor to reject this provision in the Senate budget so that our community can meet the challenges and opportunities ahead.
Robert “Bo” Chilton is CEO of IMPACT Community Action and Stephen Torsell is Executive Director of Homes on the Hill Community Development Corporation. Both sit on the Board of Directors of the Ohio CDC Association
The amount of credits would be capped at $100 million, creating about 4,000 housing units during the program’s term.
Central Ohio is suddenly swimming in a pool of emergency rental assistance cash due to the Biden administration's reallocation of unused federal COVID-19 relief funds to fight evictions.
Since the U.S. Treasury began the reallocation in late January, Columbus and Franklin County received over $120 million combined — a windfall so large that officials are quietly scrambling to figure out what to do with it all.
"It's huge; it's just monumental," said Carlie J. Boos, executive director of the Affordable Housing Alliance of Central Ohio. "The amount of resources that Columbus and Franklin County got combined is more than anywhere else in the country. Our central Ohio region got more resources than all of California put together and all of New York (state) put together."